Devastating wildfires sweep through South Korea, kill 27, leaving widespread destruction

The wildfires are raging across South Korea, making it the worst, largest and deadliest in the history on record. The fire blazes fuelled by strong winds and dry weather, has razed entire neighbourhoods, killing at least 27 people so far, displacing thousands of people, destroying more than 200 structures and much more. 

Thousands of firefighters and soldiers are struggling to control rapidly expanding blazes. With over a dozen fires igniting simultaneously, the situation has escalated dramatically, resulting in the destruction of several villages, temples and other cultural sites.

As per the reports, the fire began last Friday, and has burned over 88,000 acres, damaging around 320 buildings and structures, including two temples that are over 1000 years old. The government of South Korea has raised the crisis alert to its highest level and declared a full-scale national response to bring the fires under control. 

The death tolls also include a pilot whose helicopter was crashed in the southeast town of Uiesong, one of the most severely affected locations, while he was fighting flames. 

1300-year-old Gounsa temple destroyed  

A 1300-year-old temple, Gounsa Temple has fallen as wildfires have spread throughout the region of Uiseong, South Korea. In Uiseong, about 20 of the 30 structures at the Gounsa temple complex, which was said to be originally built in the 7th century, have been burned. The fire reduced most of the temple's buildings to ashes.

Among them were two state-designated treasures including, a pavilion-shaped building erected overlooking a stream in 1668, and a Joseon dynasty structure built in 1904 to mark the longevity of a king. Shedding light on the burning of temple, the President, Choi Sang-mok noted that they sent multiple teams to put out the flames, but was too late as the house of worship was already engulfed in the smokey mess with little remains to cipher through. 

Strong winds continue to become major cause of concern 

As per reports, the firefighters managed to contain 44% of the fire, however, strong winds continued to become major cause of concern. The dry and windy conditions have severely hampered containment efforts, forcing the government to take the exceptional step of evacuating thousands of prisoners from detention centres in affected regions.

Shedding light on the weather, the disaster chief Lee noted that the wildfire has once again exposed the harsh reality of a climate crisis unlike anything we've experienced before. He noted that the affected areas have seen only half the average rainfall which has been coupled with unusually strong winds. He noted that this windy pattern has drastically accelerated the spread of the fire and intensified the damage.